January 28th marks the celebration of the Lunar New Year or Spring Festival. For many Asian cultures, this is the beginning of the first day of the first month of the lunisolar Chinese calendar and the time to reconcile differences and start anew. This year represents the Year of the Rooster, specifically the Fire Rooster. Here’s a look at some interesting facts about how the Lunar New Year is celebrated by the different Asian cultures.

From all of us at ISO, Happy Lunar New Year!

Red all overRed is the color of choice to celebrate the Lunar New Year in China and as a result all of the decorations have this color. From the red lanterns hanging in the streets to the red couplets pasted on doors and red rooster decorations will be theme for this year’s celebrations.

Midnight Prayers

Many of the temples in Indonesia conduct midnight prayers while burning hundreds of candles as a way to welcome a bright future.

Tikoy & Ang Pao

​In the Philippines,Tikoy is sticky rice that is usually eaten during the new year celebration. For the Filipino culture, the lion and dragon dance is big part of their celebration and people usually hang Ang Pao in home entrance so that the dancers can collect them during their dance.

Tet Nguyen Dan (Tet)

​This is the Vietnamese version of the Lunar New Year. It is believed at the dawn of Tet, whatever activity that you are doing will determine your fate for the rest of the year. So at this time persons try to be cordial and friendly with the hope of having a good year.